


No One's Sane Behind Their Mask

by apatternedfever



Category: Alice In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Gen, Inspired by Music, Jim Moriarty is a cheshire cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-06-20
Packaged: 2017-12-15 14:43:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apatternedfever/pseuds/apatternedfever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim Moriarty's wandered in and out of a world more wonderful and terrifying than most people can dream of. Is it any wonder that he has to make the "real" world more interesting to stand living in it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	No One's Sane Behind Their Mask

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the song "Girl That's Never Been" by Escape Key, and of course the wonderful fusion listed above.

Jim doesn't do much to hide what he is or where he's been. Oh, he wears sunglasses to hide his eyes and he never flat-out says he's walked out of this world and into a much better one, but that's not hiding, that's just keeping the mystery alive. He doesn't hide. He doesn't remember if he ever had to -- doesn't remember if he was born with yellow eyes like a cat, doesn't remember if he learned riddles and backwards logic at his mother's knee, or if it all came later, if he fell into Wonderland and it warped his mind and his eyes changed to match.

Both feel right, neither feels right; nothing feels right when he's out of Wonderland. When he's in it, his story changes depending on the day.

He spends some time wandering around, looking for Wonderland, finding it and getting kicked back out of it again. Then he starts building an empire in the other world (not the real world. Never the real world; there's nothing real about it, compared to Wonderland, to home). He's so bored, so frustrated. Wonderland won't let him stay. The other world has nothing interesting to offer, so he'll make the interesting things himself.

Being a criminal is fine, it's a way to pass the time, but it's not fun.

Building an empire? Training it to take care of itself, to run smoothly when he's not in the mood to be bothered, or not in the right world to be bothered? Trying to teach or train or beat the stupidity out of enough people that they can at least keep it from collapsing when he's not there? Watching people learn his name, watching them fear him, watching them worship him -- becoming a legend, a story, in the other world that seems so determined to keep a hold of him?

Now _that's_ fun.

He knows there are rumors about him. About where he's from, about the odd turns his accent takes. About the sunglasses he's never seen without. About the times when nobody can get in touch with him. He collects them, because they amuse him. They're never close to the truth.

Sebastian Moran doesn't bother with the rumors; he understands that whatever's going on with his boss, it's more than he can understand. He brings them, though, dropping the information off casually when he gives reports, or while he's playing bodyguard on a night Jim doesn't feel like being his own muscle. It's refreshing. It's fun, having the man as an inside spy on his own organization.

Moran is fascinating. Quiet, and far too difficult to get into the spirit of things, but when Jim can get him playing the game instead of being his own blunt self, he's quite good at it. Moran might just survive in Wonderland for more than a night or two, and that thrills him.

So he calls Moran into his office more and more often without any business to speak of, and watches him clean his guns and sharpens his knives. He pours him a drink and talks circles around where his home is, and gives Moran the more mundane side to his stories, and finally one night he puts his feet up on the desk and gives the man who's recently climbed to being his second a long look.

"Why is a raven like a writing desk, Seb?" he asks, fiddling with a glass of brandy and watching Moran closely from behind his sunglasses.

Moran frowns, looking up from his guns, and shrugs. "Don't know, boss. Why?"

"Oh, just a riddle to pass the time." He chuckles to himself, rocking lightly back and forth. "Do you like riddles?"

"Sometimes." He sets down one gun, picks up the next and starts dismantling it. Jim watches his hands work with a hunger he doesn't usually feel for things that don't come from Wonderland, and slides his sunglasses down his nose. "I'm not very good at them, though."

"That can be taught," Jim offers, setting the glasses down on the desk with a clatter, and when Sebastian looks up, he fixes him with a cat's smile.


End file.
